Christian Fathers Research Articles

A Visitation of God: Northern Civilians Interpret the Civil War (review)

Reviewed by: A Visitation of God: Northern Civilians Interpret the Civil War John Giggie (bio) A Visitation of God: Northern Civilians Interpret the Civil War. By Sean A. Scott. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. 347. Cloth, $74.00.) How did Americans make sense of the Civil War and its revolutionary influence on society, including an unprecedented scale of death and destruction and the ending of slavery? Many leaned heavily on their faith for answers, shows Sean A. Scott in his impressively researched first book. Scott grounds his work in a carefully chosen place and people. He examines the "Civil War west," which he defines as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa (5). There he finds an eclectic [End Page 110] mix of foreign immigrants and transplants from the South and Northeast collectively bound together by a shared belief in evangelical Protestantism. While not the only religion in the region, it was the most popular and far-reaching, offering powerful "bonds of community and fellowship" (6). These "religious Northerners," Scott argues, merged a conviction in God's sovereignty with a profound conviction in America's status as a divinely favored nation to produce a supreme self-confidence over the meaning and outcome of the war and a lasting source of comfort. More precisely, they assumed that God favored them in the sectional controversy and willed the war to happen as a means of chastening the nation for its history of sinfulness and destroying the peculiar institution. Their blatant mixing of the spiritual with the political, however, contained unforeseen consequences. By branding God as pro-Union, aggressively seeking to Christianize the Yankee ranks, and relying on the national government instead of the church as the primary vehicle for establishing peace on earth, evangelical Protestants ultimately "trivialized religion by making it the handmaiden of politics" (266). They won the war but lost part of their souls in the process. Scott's work joins a growing literature on religion and the Civil War. Like recent monographs by Harry Stout, Mark Noll, Robert Miller, and George Rable, it shows that Americans widely depended on Christianity to interpret the war, infuse it with moral meaning, and find strength and consolation when it claimed loved ones. Scott breaks new ground, though, concentrating on the role of private piety in the lives of women and men on the home front. He is among the first to reveal just how strongly religion structured the daily lives of civilians in the Civil War west and framed their politics, relief efforts, family dynamics, and gender relationships. Specifically, Scott argues that previous scholars have underplayed the "personal and individualistic aspect of faith" when analyzing the reasons behind the wartime activities of religious northerners. When mothers and daughters struggled to explain the death of a family member or rushed to collect supplies, there was more behind their actions than a belief in popular ideas about domesticity. Rather, "devout women emphasized the value of prayer, the importance of spiritual growth, and the necessity of relying completely on God when suffering through trials" (72). Similarly, Scott finds that historians have also misunderstood the importance of religion in the motivations and actions of men living in the Civil War North. Rather than ceding the moral formation of their children to their wives, fathers played a central role in the development of behavioral standards in their families. They extended this duty to the battlefield, peppering letters [End Page 111] to family and friends fighting for the Union with ethical advice and admonitions culled straight from the Bible. As Scott writes, "The emphasis on maintaining religious devotion and preserving moral virtue as a demonstration of both physical and spiritual maturity remained a constant theme that Christian fathers stressed for soldiers of all ages and ranks" (140). Scott structures his book as a religious narrative that rises and falls with the events of the war itself. In doing so, he offers a fine model of how to balance spiritual and military histories. Frequently he uses turning points in the conflict to highlight key developments in the sacred thought of religious northerners, as when he compares President Lincoln's evolving understanding of the relationship between divine...

John Bridges's Tools of Persuasion: Prescription, Dispensation, and Early Christianity in A Defence of the Government Established(1587)

Scholars have hitherto treated Bridges's Defenceprimarily as an apology for the Church of England in the later 1580s. This essay, however, assesses this text with respect to Bridges's self-declared intention to offer a persuasive work that would convince presbyterians to conform to the Church of England. Bridges strongly backs scriptural Christianity while strenuously rejecting the scriptural perfectionism he finds in Theodore Beza. Instead, he argues that new dispensations comprehend the unchanging natural qualities of human society and earthly government. Moreover, early Christian Fathers understood this. In the DefenceBridges uses the early Church's ambiguities as much as its authority to form a relatively labile, discursive space necessary for his persuasive efforts.

Debunking Arguments and the Genealogy of Religion and Morality

AbstractDebunking arguments are an important species of undermining argument, in which facts about the origins of a judgement are used to explain away that judgement. There is a long history of debunking arguments in the domains of moral judgement and religious belief, from the early Christian fathers to Sigmund Freud and beyond. Debunking arguments work by offering a truth‐mooting genealogy of the judgement in question, where the truth of the judgement doesn’t play a role in generating the judgement, nor does the genealogy probabilify the judgement. Since debunking arguments work against judgements, we can only use them in the domains of morality and religion if we assume cognitivism for those domains. There may be, however, analogous dialectic moves if we instead assume non‐cognitivism.

Andromeda and the Beauty of the African Soul: Greek Tragedy and the Early Christian Fathers

Andromeda and the Beauty of the African Soul: Greek Tragedy and the Early Christian Fathers

Léon le Grand (review)

Reviewed by: Léon le Grand Kevin Uhalde Léon le Grand. By Philippe Henne. [Petits Cerf Histoire.](Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf. 2008. Pp. 206. €18,00 paperback. ISBN 978-2-204-08530-4.) Much like Trevor Jalland, who published his biography of Pope Leo I in 1941, Philippe Henne sees Leo as a singular as much as a saintly figure. In a Western context, Leo was "un phare étincelant au milieu de la sombre nuit de l'apathie culturelle ambiante" (pp. 18–19); in the thick of Eastern church conflicts, "seul Léon aura le souci du bien commun" (p. 114). Henne here and there suggests that intellectual and spiritual isolation caused Leo to draw forth a simpler faith—couched in a famously simpler prose—than his Latin predecessors and Greek contemporaries. This is offered not as a thesis but as one of several themes in a biography aimed at orientating the general reader within the many, complex, and momentous events in which Leo was engaged. Only a few years ago, it would have made a greater contribution to a field that then was small relative to its subject's proverbial magnitude. While it remains a handy narrative of Leo's eventful life and introduction to his writings, other books—some more probing, others yet more accessible or useful—also have appeared. Henne has written two anthologies with introductions, for Origen and for Hilarius of Poitiers; such a format might [End Page 786]better have suited Leo as well, especially given the use Henne makes of long quotations from primary sources throughout the text. Indeed, Bronwen Neil now offers just such an anthology in Routledge's Early Christian Fathers series (New York, 2009), with a substantial introduction and a scholarly bibliography far more current than in the book under review. A Dominican and professor of patrology at Université Catholique de Lille, Henne's major scholarly work has been on Christology in the Apostolic Age, and his treatment of Leo's involvement with Eastern theological debates is the strongest part of this study (the least satisfactory is that on Roman primacy, which reflects the work of Philip McShane but not Walter Ullman; see also Susan Wessel's Leo the Great and the Spiritual Rebuilding of a Universal Rome[Boston, 2008]). But balancing theological explication with political context means that Henne cannot probe deeply, and so readers will want to turn to Mark Armitage's A Twofold Solidarity: Leo the Great's Theology of Redemption(Strathfield, Australia, 2005) and especially to Bernard Green's Soteriology of Leo the Great(New York, 2008). Green works out changes and nuances in Leo's theology over the course of his episcopate by paying close attention to the chronology of his letters and sermons and their place in the liturgical year. Henne, too, duly draws attention to the circumstances of Leo's sermons and how his writings were edited and preserved; he also has insightful comments on Leo's famous Latin prose style and what its studied simplicity implied for doctrinal debate (for more systematic analyses there are recent studies by Wilhelm Blümer, Marco Ronconi, and essays in Mario Naldini (ed.), I sermoni di Leone Magno: fra storia e teologia[Florence, 1997]). But Leo does not make a biographer's task easy, especially because the bishop lifted his pen to write on such a diverse range of ecclesiastical, theological, pastoral, and administrative issues, and because the perspective he allows us on these issues varies greatly according to genre. Henne's book, written with clarity and admiration for its subject, makes a fine introduction to Leo. It reminds us that Leo's life is a story that begs to be retold but defies easy comprehension. We can hope that what appears to be a burgeoning interest in this important pope continues to flourish. Kevin Uhalde Ohio University Copyright © 2009 The Catholic University of America Press

Time and Sexual Love in The Winter's Tale

The identification of women with sexual temptation, the ready analogy to Eve in the garden, became a commonplace in early modem culture. It reflects a conception of women's nature deeply rooted in Shakespeare's society. That society is, of course, masculine, with male and female roles, in general, conventionally defined. Because men rule, the masculine values are power, law, and reason. Weakness is womanish, as are those elements of the men's own nature that they deny or repress. With some encouragement from Aristotle, St. Paul, and the Christian fathers, male smugness can shade off easily into fear and even abhorrence of sexuality and then of women. Sexual guilt can be displaced by blaming women as tempters; Eve's seduction of Adam is an archetypal expression of such attitudes. At the other extreme, women can be idealized by Neoplatonic philosophers and courtly lovers, adored as repositories of those ideal qualities not accommodated in the real world of men. To Leontes' dark vision Shakespeare opposes the ideal qualities represented in the play by the three women, Hermione, Paulina, and Perdita, who suggest the subversive and creative power of love, art, and nature. In The Winter's Tale they triumph totally over Leontes' reality. Life in the final scene clearly means life as it exists in a moving world, in a world ruled by time. It is Shakespeare's considerable achievement in The Winter's Tale that he can bring us to accept the view of time as constantly moving forward and hence as eroding and destructive and to accept it not with resignation or depression but with equanimity, confidence, and even enthusiasm. And it is primarily his picture of life in a pastoral setting and the attitude toward life expressed by Perdita, as representative of the country, which enable us to do so.

Des lieux pour le « profane » dans l’Empire tardo-antique ? Les fêtes entre koinônia sociale et espaces de rivalités religieuses

In a Roman empire where a variety of religious choices abounded – some of them exclusive in character – public festivals present two images which are at first sight contradictory. Promoted by the authorities, they transcended their religious dimension to become occasions for a koinônia founded on aspects of a common identity (political, social and traditional). In this respect they belong to a “secular” aspect of antiquity. Yet this consensual image, though consistent with the religious pluralism of the period, coexists with another, much closer to the standard western perception. Quite apart from the public executions which delighted the “société du spectacle” of antiquity, festivals often resulted in the unleashing of anti-Christian movements, while simultaneously uniting the Christian Fathers in opposition to them. From the anthropological point of view, this bipolarisation of the atmosphere of the festival reflects its innate character as an occasion segregated from everyday life, which permits access to the gods / to God. Historically, it corresponds to the tensions perceptible in the religious world from the second century onwards between participation in common religious debates and practices and the affirmation of identity. Such an interpretative framework would explain why (a) in the late empire festivals offered space to the “secular”; (b) as a result, they were at first little affected by religious change; and (c) since they provided an opportunity for the expression of collective identities, they were suitable occasions for denouncing the Other, if he was felt to be - or represented as - a threat to the community. With the gradual christianisation of the imperial power in the fourth century, the definition of the “sacred” underwent a change and religious rivalries intensified. Nevertheless the authorities continued to patronise and support festivals which included the “secular” element, in view of their consensual nature and their progressive disengagement from traditional religious activities. In the fifth century, when the politics, society and religion of the empire were dominated by a new concept of sacrality, this “secular” space inevitably became the object of censure and, as a result, festivals were forced to modify their raison d’être and/or their ceremonial practices.

How Does Religion Influence Marriage? Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim Perspectives

Seventy-six highly religious Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim married mothers and fathers were interviewed regarding how and why three dimensions of religion (i.e., faith community, religious practices, and spiritual beliefs) influence marriage in both beneficial and challenging ways. Through qualitative data analysis the author identified eight emergent themes that link religion and marriage: (1) the influence of clergy, (2) the mixed blessing of faith community service and involvement, (3) the importance of prayer, (4) the connecting influence of family ritual, (5) practicing marital fidelity, (6) pro-marriage/anti-divorce beliefs, (7) homogamy of religious beliefs, and (8) faith in God as a marital support. Qualitative data are presented in connection with each theme, and clinical implications are offered.

A repertoire of comic figures of the antique theatre in miniatures of Byzantine Psalters with marginal

Recent investigations on ninth-century Byzantine Psalters have focused mostly on the impact of the iconoclast controversy on the iconography of the marginal illustrations in these manuscripts. In fact this impact has been greatly exaggerated and the Psalter illustrations that can be connected to the debates on icon are less than a dozen out of a total of a few hundreds. The present article focuses on the iconography of figures illustrating social and moral types in the psalms. These figures cannot be considered as novel inventions of the ninth-century artists who painted our manuscripts. Their origin must be drawn back to late antique prototypes; in particular it is inferred that most of these figures represent characters that were originally modeled after the moral and social types acted on stage in late antique theater, mime and pantomime. A number of examples out of the miniatures in the Carolingian manuscripts of Terence and other media provides parallels to gestures, postures and features of the figures in the Psalter illustrations. The iconographical invention of these characters for the psalms must date from fourth to sixth century, a period during which theater was still very popular, notwithstanding the strong opposition of the Christian Fathers. Chroricius of Gaza' Apologia memoriam and other late antique writings witness the popularity of mime up to the middle sixth century and the ample variety of types that were acted on stage. The figures scissor out of marginal illustrations in the Byzantine Psalters are arranged in five plates collecting examples of, respectively, moral types, emotions caricatures, social types and professions, gods and devils.

Medicine, Society, and Faith in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds (review)

Reviewed by: Medicine, Society, and Faith in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds Faye Getz Darrel W. Amundsen. Medicine, Society, and Faith in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. xv + 391 pp. $39.95. For more than two decades, Darrel Amundsen has produced some of the most interesting and useful publications on ancient and medieval medicine available today. Medieval canon law, the writings of the early Christian fathers, late Roman medical legislation—these topics and more form the subjects of articles and contributions to collected volumes that no one interested in early medicine should be without. Unfortunately, these valuable pieces have been scattered over the years through numerous sources, because Amundsen, like many classicists, has never written a book. Johns Hopkins’s handsome production of many of this writer’s essays is especially welcome. [End Page 335] Amundsen is at his best when he is examining (and exploding) the sorts of hackneyed notions about early medicine that are repeated so often that they are assumed to be true. “Medieval Canon Law on Medical and Surgical Practice by the Clergy” (Bull. Hist. Med., 1978) dismisses the canard that clerics were forbidden to use the knife. The actual situation was not as simple as historians previously had assumed, and Amundsen’s scholarship into this subject is truly groundbreaking. Another essay of major significance is “Casuistry and Professional Obligations: The Regulation of Physicians by the Court of Conscience in the Late Middle Ages” (Trans. Stud. Coll. Phys. Phila., 1981), which remains one of the most important discussions of the unique demands placed on the medieval physician ever published. Also very valuable, especially to the teacher, are survey pieces on medicine and the early church. “The Medieval Catholic Tradition,” taken from a collected volume edited by Ronald Numbers along with Amundsen (Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions, 1986), brings together themes difficult to find discussed elsewhere. An equally useful summary is “Medicine and Faith in Early Christianity” (Bull. Hist. Med., 1982), a meticulous examination of attitudes toward healing by early Christian writers. Amundsen’s more recent work deals by and large with bioethics, a philosophical and legal discipline whose historical roots extend back to the 1960s. The writer tells us in his preface that an anonymous referee remarked that “care must be taken when presenting historical essays which describe issues that are of current concern” (p. x). Suicide, abortion, infanticide, and topics of sin and disease indeed are with us still, and Amundsen is bold to deal with these problematic issues. Writers like Peter Brown, Caroline Bynum, and Joan Cadden offer a nuanced and contextualized approach to early Christians’ bodily concerns. By contrast, there is a distinct lack of historical context for many of Amundsen’s conclusions that is all too apparent in the book’s introduction. This schematic finality may appeal to the philosophically and legalistically minded, but the historian, like the anonymous referee, must remain cautious. Faye Getz Cooksville, Wisconsin Copyright © 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press

RESISTING VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF JESUS

(1997). RESISTING VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF JESUS. Journal of Pastoral Theology: Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 15-22.

A Much-Needed Book That Needs Much

Review of One Lord, One Faith: Writings of the Early Christian Fathers as Evidences of the Restoration (1996), by Michael T. Griffith

Porfirio negli ultimi cinquant' anni (review)

612 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 34:40CTOnER 1996 In addition to exploring the philosophy of God, in Part 2, he spends several chapters, approximately one-third of the work, discussing Christology and analyzing relations among the persons of the Trinity. This section of the book will be of concern and significance to theologians as well as to philosophers interested in the period. The book's tools could be improved. The nonspecialists at whom the book is aimed may find the many German works listed in the bibliography inaccessible. Some recent significant works are missing, for example, Markus, ed., Augustine: A Collectionof Critical Essays (5972), and O'Daly, Augustine's Philosophy of Mind (5987). A chronological summary, similar to that found in Sorabji, Time, Creation, and the Continuum (5983), 4~2-~4, would have been helpful. SHERI KATZ Spring Hill College Giuseppe Girgenti. Porfirio negli ultimi cinquant' anni. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1994. Pp. 376. Paper, L 45,ooo. This book is a systematic and chronologically arranged bibliography of the primary and the secondary sources for the thought of Porphyry and its historical influence, which have been published from 194o to 1994. That a book of this kind and of such length has been conceived and produced is indicative of the revival of Neoplatonic Studies which has occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. To a great extent, such a revival has become possible because of the scholarly activities of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies and its active chapters in different continents and countries, such as Canada, India, France, and Italy. More specifically, the publication of this book, a year after A. Smith's monumental edition of Porphyrius: Fragmenta, is indicative of the increased interest in Porphyry and his multifaceted work. There is a short preface by Giovanni Reale and an extensive and informative introduction by the author. In his preface, Reale places Porfirio historically in the line of a number of important bibliographical studies undertaken by himself or by other scholars, the most relevant of which is A. Smith's Porphyrian Studies since x9z3, which was published in 1987. Thus, Girgenti's work can be seen as a continuation of Smith's work,just as Smith's work was a continuation ofJ. Bidez's work. Reale concludes with a remark, echoed by Hadot in recent years, as well as by Girgenti both in the introduction and in the commentaries, to the effect that Porphyry diverges from Plotinus regarding the metaphysical question of 0nto/og/a vs. hen0/0g/a, and that Porphyry favors the former. Porphyry's presumed greater influence on the Christian Fathers regarding the theological formulation of the trinitarian doctrine is also seen as a result of his tendency towards what he calls onto-heno/og/a (52-13, 57-~8, and 31). Be that as it may, the entries in the book are arranged chronologically, followed by summaries which vary in length from a few lines to a few pages. The lengthier summaties correspond to the more extensive studies and they are useful in that they highlight the main points of books and articles. Also extremely useful are some of the eight BOOK REVIEWS 613 indices (319-73), including an Index of Arguments and Principal Themes, an Analytical Index, and an Index of Cited Authors. The overall utility of this book will be limited by the fact that it is written in Italian, but this is the common fate of books which do not use English. This may be unfortunate but seems inevitable these days. English versions of books like Girgenti's would be useful and welcome. CHRISTO$ EVANGELIOU Towson State University John Cottingham, editor. Reason, Will, and Sensation: Studies in Descartes'sMetaphysics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pp. ix + 333. Cloth, $55.oo. This collection consists of fourteen papers commemorating the Meditations's 35oth anniversary. Two groups of papers are noteworthy: those which address problems surrounding the will, a topic not treated in other recent anthologies, and those which extend current debate on the nature of sensation. Vere Chappell carefully presents both the freedom and causation of volition in "Descartes's Compatibilism." Chappell argues that the will's dependence on...

The Eastern Christian Fathers (a.d. 350-400) on the Redistribution of Wealth

Research Article| March 01 1994 The Eastern Christian Fathers (a.d. 350-400) on the Redistribution of Wealth Anastassios D. Karayiannis Anastassios D. Karayiannis Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google History of Political Economy (1994) 26 (1): 39–67. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-26-1-39 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Anastassios D. Karayiannis; The Eastern Christian Fathers (a.d. 350-400) on the Redistribution of Wealth. History of Political Economy 1 March 1994; 26 (1): 39–67. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-26-1-39 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsHistory of Political Economy Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 1994 by Duke University Press1994 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Articles You do not currently have access to this content.

Terra es animata On Having a Life

For the past quarter century bioethics has been a booming business in this country. In part that may be because humanists found here a field in which they could compete with scientists for grant money. In larger part, it is surely because medical advance has forced certain problems upon our attention. But, at least in part, it must also be because some of the concerns of bioethics impinge upon everyday life--upon the lives of most people, and at some of the crucial moments of life, in particular birth and death. Bioethics could not have boomed as it has were it not a reflection of some of our central concerns. will examine some of the issues that have emerged in bioethical discussions of death, dying, and care for the dying as a way of thinking about what it means to have a life. In particular, will focus on a concept that has risen to great prominence in our thinking: the concept of a person. Two competing visions of the person--and the relation of person to body--have unfolded as bioethics has developed, and in my view, the wrong one has begun to triumph. We have tried to handle our substantive disagreements on this question by turning to procedural solutions--in particular, advance directives--trusting that they presume no answer to the disputed question. We are, however, beginning to see how problematic such a procedural solution is, how flawed and even contradictory much thinking about advance directives has been. What we need, will suggest, is to recapture the connection between our person and the natural trajectory of bodily life. That will be the course of my argument. But, as a way of framing the issues, begin in what is likely to seem a strange place: with the thought of some of the early Christian Fathers about heaven and the resurrection of the dead. They were attempting to relate the body's history to their concept of the person's optimal development. In so doing, they provide a different and illuminating angle from which to see our present concerns. Patristic Images of the Resurrection of the Body In his City of God Saint Augustine describes the human being as terra animata, animated earth.[1] Such a description, contrary in many ways to trends in bioethics over the last several decades, ought to give pause to anyone inclined to characterize Augustine's thought simply in terms of a Neoplatonic dualism that ignores the personal significance of the body. It may, in fact, be our own constant talk of personhood that betrays a more powerful tendency toward dualism of body and self. This same Augustine, however, found himself puzzled at the thought of the resurrected body. What sort of body will one who dies in childhood have in the resurrection? As for little children, Augustine wrote, I can only say that they will not rise again with the tiny bodies they had when they died. By a marvelous and instantaneous act of God they will gain that maturity they would have attained by the slow lapse of time (22.14). This is, in fact, a question to which a number of the Church Fathers devoted thought.[2] Origen, for example, understood that throughout life our material bodies are constantly changing. How, then, can the body be raised? He appealed (in good Platonic fashion) to the eidos, the unchanging form of the body. Despite the body's material transformations, its eidos remains the same as we grow from infancy, through childhood and adulthood, to old age. (For Origen this eidos is not the soul; it is the bodily form united with the sold in this life and again in the resurrection. J.N.D. Kelly comments that Origen was charged with having held that resurrected bodies would be spherical; he may have held such a view, in keeping with the Platonic theory that a sphere is the perfect shape.) From here it is not a long step to suppose that since the eidos of each resurrected body will be perfect, it will in every instance be identical in qualities and characteristics. …

Substance and Illusion in the Christian Fathers. By Christopher Stead. (Collected Studies Series, 224.) Pp. xi + 330 with photograph. London: Variorum Reprints, 1985. £30. 0 86078 172 0

Substance and Illusion in the Christian Fathers. By Christopher Stead. (Collected Studies Series, 224.) Pp. xi + 330 with photograph. London: Variorum Reprints, 1985. £30. 0 86078 172 0

A New Moses: Typological Iconography in the Moutier-Grandval Bible Illustrations of Exodus

The miniatures of the Moutier-Grandval Bible, which is the earliest illustrated bible surviving from the Carolingian period, have understandably received considerable scholarly attention. Recent studies have rejected Köhler's hypothesis of a single 5th-century model for the iconography of the miniatures, emphasizing the dependance on a variety of models, eastern and western. This study seeks to balance these views by pointing out the contemporary and original nature of the iconography of the miniatures, in which illustrations of events from Exodus and Revelation equate Moses with Paul. Although rooted in the teachings of Paul and mentioned by Early Christian fathers, this typology became especially popular in the medieval West, undoubtedly stimulated in Carolingian society by the writings on divine revelation by Paul's supposed disciple Dionysius the Areopagite, who was equated with St. Denis.

Substance and Illusion in the Christian Fathers. By Christopher Stead. London: Variorum Reprints, 1985. 330 pp.

Substance and Illusion in the Christian Fathers. By Christopher Stead. London: Variorum Reprints, 1985. 330 pp.

Some Clerical Notions of Dramatic Decorum in Late Medieval England

The pronouncements and regulations put forth by the late medieval Church, including those of English bishops, suggest that the religious establishment was quite opposed to theatrical performance. The tradition established by Tertullian and other early Christian Fathers provided a foundation for the Church's views.l But the decree of Pope Innocent III in 1207 shows that the hierarchy was responding to contemporary conditions, not just voicing traditional resistance to mimetic performance:

Of Gorgias and Grammatology

No READER of this journal can doubt that current-traditional rhetoric, the system of that replaced the vigorous classical theory of sometime in the nineteenth century, is in a bad way. Current-traditional rhetoric refers to the appearing in the standard freshman composition texts, which concern themselves almost exclusively with prescriptions about arrangement and style, ignoring invention altogether. The poverty of current-traditional can be partially accounted for in the influence on rhetorical theory of the world-view called the of by Jacques Derrida.1 The tradition of the metaphysics of presence runs in a nearly unbroken line through Western philosophy, from Plato and Aristotle and the Christian fathers to